There are career years, and then there’s the fasten-your-seatbelts ride of Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers.
Hailing from Canberra, the four-piece — Anna Ryan (lead vocals/guitar), Scarlett McKahey (guitar/vocals), Jaida Stephenson (bass) and Neve van Boxsel (drums) — took their game to the world in 2024, a stretch that included stadium shows with Hall of Famers, major awards, international tours and record deals.
This indie-rock outfit with a streak of punk attitude is an overnight success story, 10 years in the making.
It’s tricky to identify the precise moment when the floodgates cracked and burst. These matters tend to take time, persistence.
Teen Jesus caught the buzz with an industry showcase at Brighton, England’s Great Escape Festival in May 2023, and converted it into a support slot on the Foo Fighters’ tour of Australia later that year.
A 24-show, 10-country tour of the UK and Europe with The Vaccines followed. In September 2024, the band was tapped to play Pearl Jam’s Ohana Festival at Dana Point, CA. That first-ever show in the US became a whistlestop, coast-to-coast jaunt. (It’s a long way to go, so why not?)
Returning home, Teen Jesus joined Pixies as the warm-up acts for Pearl Jam on an Australia-wide stadium tour. With the trek nearing its final stop, Teen Jesus opened the 2024 ARIA Awards, and went on to win the coveted Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist honour. “It’s always been a dream of ours to win an ARIA or even go to the ARIAs, so to go there and then win an ARIA… we didn’t see it coming,” Ryan tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
Eddie Vedder had a hunch. During the final show of their Australian tour, the Seattle legend addressed the late-afternoon crowd that had gathered for the hot Aussie act. “For all the people who are yet to see them before and this is your first time,” he said, “we are very honoured that you will say I saw them on the same stage as Pearl Jam.”
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It’s nice to have friends in high places. And Vedder, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inducted singer, is one. He watched on from his hotel as his protégés won their first ARIA. In April and May 2025, Teen Jesus will return to the US for a support slot on multiple arena dates for Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter Tour. While there, they’ve locked in a brief headline stretch visiting venues on both coasts plus Toronto, Canada.
“Everything that has happened has been completely unbelievable,” Ryan tells us. “It’s been insane. To even be in proximity to those heavyweight bands is crazy, let alone playing on the same stages.”
Those crazy times, it would seem, are just getting started.
Teen Jesus have a special rider demand, a reminder of their origins, kindred and good humour. Ahead of a DJ set and hosting spot one evening at UTS Underground for SXSW Sydney 2024, McKahey and Stephenson invited Rolling Stone AU/NZ backstage to check out their snacks and goodies. What caught the eye was the two framed photos of Jack Black.
The American funnyman has been with Teen Jesus from the start. It was at a sleepover a decade ago, with School of Rock playing on TV, when the four school friends hatched a plan.
“We were like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t look too hard,’” Ryan recounts. “‘We could probably do that.’ And then we were trying to figure out who would do what [instrument].” Ryan loved singing, as their mum did. So that important position was squared away. Van Boxsel was introduced to drums at a young age. McKahey played cello at school, so she was a shoe-in for lead guitar. Stephenson was handed bass duties because of her “pretty big hands.”
Like all great rock bands, Teen Jesus are a gang. A gang of besties. “I don’t think I could be comfortable getting up there alone, without the whole group,” notes Ryan. “There’s strength in numbers, right?”
Numbers are part of the story. Several weeks after their debut LP I Love You dropped in at Number Six on the ARIA Chart, Teen Jesus played a breakthrough showcase for Spotify at the inaugural SXSW Sydney 2023 — a night that doubled as Ryan’s birthday. Adding to the party atmosphere, a handsome cake was delivered on stage. Spotify doubled down on its support by including the band in its worldwide New Noise Artists to Watch list for 2024. Other acts tipped for urgent success included Chappell Roan, The Last Dinner Party, Tyla and Teddy Swims.
Later, Teen Jesus would sign with New York-based Mom + Pop Music for the world outside of Australia and New Zealand, and with Warner Chappell for publishing. Mom + Pop Music handled the September 2024 release of I Love You Too, a deluxe edition of their debut album, winner of a 2024 AIR Award for Best Independent Rock Album or EP.
Australians everywhere tease their national capital, Canberra, a city created as a compromise when the power players in Sydney and Melbourne couldn’t reach a deal.
Canberrans have heard it all before — an attractive but dull town, filled with public servants, all of them likely to get lost on the way home, a trick of those unremarkable roads, each the same.
With two of the hottest acts emerging from Canberra in recent years, in Genesis Owusu and now Teen Jesus, those jokes seem a bit last decade.
“It was a great place to grow up. It was such a nice, close-knit music scene, everyone was amping everybody up,” remarks Ryan. “It would have been harder for us to get bigger or get noticed if we didn’t have that support. Super, super nice vibes. I only have good memories from that. We try and do that as much as we can, to lift up the bands that come and support us.”
When you hang with Pearl Jam, bag Top 10 hits and win major awards on national TV, flying under the radar is no longer an option. Ryan recounts a moment when, waiting for a tram, a ute pulled up beside them. “I was like, ‘Oh, here we go, what’s gonna happen?’ He rolled down the window and said, ‘Hey, I saw you play at Pearl Jam.’” He was listening to Teen Jesus and turned up his radio to prove it.
It wasn’t long ago that Ryan was working a café job. Not anymore. The group has “been cooking,” quips McKahey. On the question of new Teen Jesus music, “It’s starting to smell pretty good,” adds Stephenson. “It’s time to open that oven soon.”
Expect more shows. And more Teen Jesus music should find its way into the world in 2025.
“We’re definitely writing heaps of stuff,” says Ryan. “I want it to just keep going. I am sure we will just keep touring. I love playing shows. The plan is to just keep releasing music forever.”
This Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers interview features in the March-May 2025 issue of Rolling Stone AU/NZ. If you’re eager to get your hands on it, then now is the time to sign up for a subscription.
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